Margaret Busby, chair of the award, said the judges are 'wonderfully spoilt for choice' and praised each book's ability to give insights into other cultures and histories.

'Although we could not take every favourite further, the books that triumphed are a reminder of what the best fiction can be: moving, entertaining, enlightening, exciting, engaging our thoughts and emotions, while creating an intimate connection with someone else's imagination,' she added.

Chair of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize Bernardine Evaristo said that the regional winners, who will each have their work published in Granta magazine, manage to span cultures, eras, generations and 'diverse ways of being and seeing'.

'Our final choices encompass range, depth, beauty, unpredictability and re-readability. To read them is to inhabit other worlds,' she added.

The five regional winners of each award will now go on to compete for the overall Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize, which will each be awarded on June 8th at the Hay Festival.